New apparatus for calibrations in the range of 2 kPa absolute pressure

Abstract

Capacitance diaphragm gauges (CDGs) are precise electromechanical pressure sensors in which the displacement of a stretched thin metal diaphragm is detected by the measurement of a capacitance. These are very accurate gauges, and are frequently used as transfer gauges. To calibrate such accurate low-pressure gauges, precise mercury manometers have been used. However, complexity, concern about mercury vapour, and cost of mercury manometers have made it difficult to use these manometers in many industrial calibration laboratories. As a substitute, gas-operated piston gauges can be used for the calibration of such low-pressure gauges. However, the minimum pressure that is necessary to balance the tare weight, which generally corresponds to a pressure of several kilopascals, is a major obstacle. To reduce this minimum operating pressure, we adopted a variable bell-jar pressure method. To realize this method effectively, we developed a new mass-handling device that makes it possible to add or remove weights up to 200 g easily, with a resolution of 10 g, without breaking the vacuum during the calibration. This calibration system can be used to measure pressures from 100 Pa to 2 kPa in the absolute mode. In this paper, we also present the calibration results for two types of CDGs with full-scale ranges of 1330 Pa and 1000 Pa, respectively.